RAMALLAH, June 23 (JMCC) - The Swedish Port Workers Union implemented a boycott of Israeli ships in all Sweden's ports, on Wednesday.

The decision, which will affect 95 percent of foreign trade between Sweden and Israel, came two days after port workers in Oakland, California refused to cross a picket line of pro-Palestinian activists to unload an Israeli ship.

Some 1,500 members of the Swedish Port Workers Union began the boycott at all Sweden's ports which handle more than 95% of the country's foreign trade. The action is planned to end on June 29.

Even if goods arrive in trucks, dockworkers often have some role in handling them when they arrive in port, said Per Helgesson, the union's chief negotiator.

The union supported the international aid convoy and demands that Israel lift its blockade on Gaza. Several Swedish activists were on the flotilla when Israeli commandos attacked it on May 31.

Israel recently eased the 3-year-old blockade under international pressure, but union spokesman Bjorn Borg said the measure was insufficient.

We don't think it is far-reaching enough, Borg said. We want them to lift the blockade.

Borg said stevedores in the southwestern port of Goteborg had already refused to handle about a dozen containers containing cargo from Israel or goods destined for it...